Olena Vynogradova

Olena Vynogradova is a human rights lawyer with over ten years of experience in legal analysis, advocacy and research.

In 2011 she graduated from Yaroslav the Wise National Law Academy of Ukraine obtaining LL.M degree (cum laude).

With the escalation of the armed conflict in the middle of 2014 and dramatic increasing the number of IDPs in Ukraine Olena Vynogradova joined the biggest migration-focusing Ukrainian NGO as a legal analyst on drafting legislation concerning protection rights and freedoms of IDPs and residents of the occupied territory, where she worked till her maternity leave in 2017. During this period, she co-authored amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the rights and freedoms of internally displaced persons”, which were adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament in December 2015, and a number of corresponding bylaws.

After moving to Geneva, in late 2019 Olena Vynogradova was appointed as an honorary officer – Director of Representative Offices of Ukrainian National Bar Association in Switzerland.

In 2020, being awarded a scholarship by Ukrainian Victor Pinchuk Foundation, Olena Vynogradova started her second master’s degree programme at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights majoring in Transitional Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law.

Since 2020 she combines her work with study simultaneously doing remote consultancies for Ukrainian NGOs, projects and initiatives, including cooperation with the Human Rights Center ZMINA.

The scope of her professional interests involves issues of Ukraine’s national policy towards ensuring human rights of conflict-affected population, transitional justice, gender equality, SOGIESC law, protection of human rights defenders, implementing international human rights and humanitarian law standards in Ukraine, etc.